


all these words alone

by RobinTheSpotlight



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Asgardian Culture, Character Growth, Coping with Death, Gen, Healthy Coping, Recovery, Rocket needs a hug, Team as Family, Thor Needs a Hug, Thor misses Loki, dealing with things, family as Family, rocket isn't an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-07 00:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18227546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinTheSpotlight/pseuds/RobinTheSpotlight
Summary: In the wake of defeat at the hands of Thanos, Thor takes some time to himself to think about his life, his brother, and his people, while Rocket learns to cope with losing everything he cares about.Or; Thor and Rocket share stories, memories and culture, keeping their lost families close to their hearts as they work through their grief in a sensible way (for once).





	all these words alone

On Asgard, the funeral for Loki would have already taken place. As the king of the people, he would have to be the one to carry it out. It would be a heart-breaking time for the citizens, once again having to wish goodbye to one of their royals. It would be worse for Thor. It had been bad the last time, but… they had been getting better. They had bonded. It would be worse, he knew.

Thor shifted his position on the soft Wakandan soil, his joints weary and aching from the last few hours spent on the ground. He scanned his eyes around the clearing, humming in satisfaction before realising how loud the sound was in the otherwise silent forest.

Around him, symbols were etched into the crumbling dirt, smooth patterns and rough, jagged slashes. ‘loss’ and ‘sorrow’ and ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ and ‘brother’. More were intertwined, ‘mischief’ and ‘pride’ and ‘deceit’.

There would be no Asgardian rites for his brother. There would be no feasts to celebrate his life or silences to acknowledge his death. There would be none of that for any of his people, frozen in the endless vacuum of space, only escaping dust and nothingness by being ripped away from one another while fully capable of understanding what was happening to them.

He would do all he could to honour them. He spoke the names, all he could remember (the list of who had been alive after the destruction of Asgard had been too short, far too short, now even shorter, one name only). There would be funerals for none of them, and, when he perished, there would be no fire to signal the death of the last Asgardian. His life, his existence, steadily slipping away like a loose thread on a too-worn garment.

For his brother, though, he would stick with what he could do for now. A series of symbols and runes in the ground reflecting the runes that would be marked into his brothers final resting place, his brother reduced to only words. He remembered his mother’s symbols, ‘warmth’ and ‘determination’ and ‘love’ and ‘honour’.

He did not know what his father would have, or his sister, but found himself unable to care.

Thor was distracted from his thoughts by a quiet rustling, not seeming loud enough to be a person’s approach. He did not rise from his place on the ground; he doubted anyone would be telling him to move. There was too much going on for anyone to think beyond the immediate threats and problems, too much for anyone to think or care about what anyone else was doing.

Rocket was the one who stepped out of the bushes, quietly shuffling over to join Thor. They were at around eye level with each other when Thor kneeled, and he was glad he could make eye contact with his new friend.

“How are you doing, Rabbit? Have you and the Princess Shuri managed to contact your ship yet?” Rocket’s general demeanour was not very happy-looking, so Thor assumed that they had not been able to. His friend, however, nodded in response. It was clear that he was trying to work out what to say, so Thor focused back on the markings for Loki to let Rocket get his thoughts in order.

Rocket sighed. “We contacted the Benatar. It’s heading over here now and will probably be here in a couple hours”. He looked back at the patterns on the floor. “But… they aren’t coming. They aren’t here anymore. None of them”. Rocket took a deep, shuddering breath. “Apart from Nebula, I guess. Even Kraglin didn’t make it”.

Thor shut his eyes, attempting to maintain his composure. So much loss…

“So… what are you doing out here? What’s all these fancy symbol things?” It was clear that Rocket was trying to change the subject, or at least take the focus off his own loss.

Thor traced his fingers along the warm soil, looking at the runes once more and wondering how to explain them without seeming too strange to the only person who may understand just how deep the void inside him was. “It’s… a part of the Asgardian funeral rites. Normally, we’d put the symbols on the boat, but- “. He pressed harder on the dirt to try to regain his composure. “There aren’t any boats left. There is no Asgard. This is all I can do for him.” His voice cracked with grief at the end of his explanation.

“So, what do they mean?”

Thor took a grasp at the thread of conversation. He elaborated on all the funeral rites from Asgard, what the symbols meant, how they decided them. The boats and the feasts, the parties and the fire. The mourning. This was something he knew a lot about, his culture and his life. Thor grasped to the conversation as the day grew dimmer. He needed to talk about his loss, everything had happened too quickly, he didn’t know if any of his people were alive.

He didn’t realise how long he had paused until he felt Rocket nudging his side. The rabbit looked quite concerned but schooled his expression into something more neutral almost as soon as Thor turned to him.

Rocket turned his head away, but then seemed to brace himself for something and glanced back at Thor. He stayed quiet, and Thor let him take a few moments to get his thoughts out.

“Could… could we make some of these for my frien- for my family?”

Thor recognised the tone of voice. The helplessness, the attempt to stay in control when the loss felt overwhelming. That was why he had been out here in the first place, drawing symbols into the soil instead of searching for Thanos or his lost people. That was why he would do all he could to help.

“Of course we can, rabbit”.

-

It was early when they finished. Night had passed quickly as he and his friend had got into their task, etching marking after marking of Thor’s Asgardian runes and Rockets’ rough symbols. The final piece was… wonderful. It reminded Thor of the Gardens of Mourning, where hundreds of Asgardians had their characters permanently etched into the heart of Asgard.

It’s gone now…

Rocket had been indecisive at first, unsure what words he wanted to use to honour the memory of his family. Thor tried to give him some advice, starting with some of the more basic, common runes used by his people. He was pleased to be able to share some part of Asgardian culture with someone who took it so seriously. In the end, however, Rocket chose his own words to represent his people.

The runes for the Guardians all swirled together, barely possible to tell apart in some areas, but he realised after telling Rocket this and getting a grumbly “It’s intentional” that it was the type of design the rabbit was going for. He wished he could have seen the Guardians interacting for more than the half-hour or so that he did.

Rocket spent almost the whole time talking, telling stories about his friends as if he was trying to justify why he was choosing what he did. He seemed almost embarrassed about some of the word choices, but Thor was happy to point out how ‘mushy’ some of the runes he had chosen were. The rabbit seemed to take this to heart, as he added more runes to the intertwined design without looking like he regretted them.

The ‘loyalty’ he put for Gamora was written with an accompanying explanation of how she hadn’t tried to kill any of the team ‘for a long time’, which Thor found quite amusing. A ‘reckless’, all harsh lines and thick markings, weaved around both Drax and Peter, along with the formers ‘honest’ and the latter’s ‘humour’. Apparently, this combination made the Guardians sound like ‘criminal arseholes’, according to Rocket, but the fondness that he stated it with cut the edge off the sharp statement.

Mantis and Groot shared an ‘innocence’ and a ‘protection’; it seemed that the bug lady had a lot in common with the tree, although he couldn’t see it himself. The lady had been a lot more talkative, for one.

There were so many symbols, even ones that Rocket had put in that Thor didn’t know the meaning of; a large shape resembling a flame ran through all the runes, added almost as an afterthought with a sombre air about it. There was ‘trust’, ‘hope’, ‘power’, ‘anger’, ‘revenge’ and ‘love’. One of the last runes the rabbit added was ‘family’; Thor wondered how recently it had been the first time Rocket admitted that family was what these people were to him.

When he stepped back from the marked soil, Thor stood next to him. They remained in silence, looking as the intertwined patterns, remembering what they had lost.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! This was meant to be a little angstier than it ended up, but they were having a good time so I let them continue. Rocket and Thor are my favourite Marvel characters, so I wanted to write something with a bit of focus on them and how much they have actually had a bad time recently.  
> I'd really appreciate comments, whether you enjoyed this or not!


End file.
